The funniest film of the year so far
Posted at 7:48 AM on August 11, 2006
by Euan Kerr
(1 Comments)
A new Spanish film, "Only Human," takes a classic situation, and runs with it to hilarious, farcical ends.
Leni (Marián Aguilera) brings Rafi (Guillermo Toledo), her live-in boyfriend, back to meet her idiosyncratic family for the first time. The only problem is they are Jewish and he is Palestinian. Leni and Rafi try to pretend he is a Jewish at first, but the ruse fails and hysteria ensues.
As Leni tried to calm her mother, things get even more complicated when Rafi slips and drops a bucket of frozen soup out of the family's hi-rise window, and flattens a man passing below.
Writer-directors Dominic Harari and Teresa Pelegri heighten the dark comedic possibilities with a cast of quirky characters. There's Dadu the blind grandfather who keeps a loaded Lee Enfield rifle which he took off a British soldier during the creation of the Israeli state. There is the Leni's sister Tania, who has channeled her insecurities into belly dancing and bed-hopping. And there is David, the brother who may well be channeling his lack of success with girls into attempts to make the disinterested family members more observant of their religion.
The one-liners come thick and fast. When Leni tells Rafi their relationship is a little like Romeo and Juliet, he replies THAT story was from the Middle Ages. "This IS the Middle Ages," she hisses in reply.
The dialogue is so speedy it is occasionally hard to keep up if you are reading the subtitles, but as there is another joke hard on its heels you can just sit back and let it flow over you.
If you only see one Spanish language dark comedy this year, let this be the one.
Comments (1)
I agree!
The funniest movie I've seen all year!
Very broad humor.
My favorite moment was
*****SPOILER ALERT!****** When the brother claims the beau has killed his duck & the family corrects him, no, he killed your father as if that was a more understandable evil******END SPOILER*********
I helped that the leads were such lovable people.
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